The present invention relates to a cassette housing construction of a video cassette recorder, and particularly to a cassette housing construction of a top loading-type video cassette recorder wherein a spring serving as a power source for operating a cassette holder and a damping mechansim for avoiding sudden upward and downward movements of the cassette holder during the unloading and loading operations thereof are placed in a dead space possessed by an opened lid of a tape cassette above the upper surface of the cassette holder, thereby enabling the recorder to be compact (thin) and light.
Generally, a conventional cassette housing construction of a video cassette recorder which has been commonly used comprises a pair of brackets 31 and a cassette holder 32 connected at each side wall thereof to each bracket 31 by means of a link mechanism to move upwardly and downwardly with respect to the brackets, as shown in FIG. 1. The link mechanism comprises an arm 34 and a lever 35 crosslinked at the middle portion thereof to the middle portion of said arm 34. The arm 34 has an upper end pivotably supported at the side wall of the cassette holder 32 by means of a pin 33 fixed thereto and a lower end moveable along a slot formed at the bracket 31 by means of a pin fixed to the lower end and inserted into the slot. The lever 35 has a lower end pivotably supported at the bracket 31 and an upper end movable along a slot formed at the side wall of the cassette holder 32 by means of a pin fixed to the upper end and inserted into the slot. The lever 35 is also provided at the lower end thereof with an extension 36 to which one end of a tension spring 38 is attached. The spring 38 is attached at the other end thereof to a protrusion 37 formed at the bracket 31 and adapted to provide a force for ejecting the cassette holder 32. At the rear of one bracket 31 is disposed a damper plate 39 carrying a damper assembly 41 provided with a damping gear 40. The damper plate 39 also carries a large gear 42 engaging with the damping gear 40 and a small gear 43 coaxially fixed to the large gear 42 to rotate together therewith. The small gear 43 engages with a sector gear 44 formed at the lower end of the lever 35 so that the damper assembly 41 is operatively connected to the cassette holder 32, in order to avoid a sudden upward movement of the cassette holder 32 by a damping function thereof.
In such a conventional cassette housing construction, however, the damper plate 39 carrying the damper assembly 41 is disposed at the rear of one bracket 31, so that the space possessed by the whole construction is proportionally increased, thereby adversely affecting the compactness and the lightness of the recorder. In addition, there is a disadvantage that an excessive force is necessary for operating the cassette holder 32, in that a spring force of the tension spring 38 disposed between the protrusion 37 of the bracket 31 and the extension 36 of the lever 35 and the damping force of the damper are indirectly transmitted to the cassette holder 32.